All the news within walking distance

March 30, 2005

Seeking potential tenant interested in running yoga studio, kick-boxing gym, or similar light-duty fitness business in terrific loft-like space one block from Georgia Ave-Petworth Metro. 1400sf on second floor of building (new restaurant called Temperance will be opening on first floor) with soaring 11-ft ceilings, exposed brick, etc. Great space! For more info, please contact Robb LaKritz:

March 29, 2005

For those who weren't aware of it, WMATA and DDOT are creating a 2.7 mile, 6-stop streetcar line in Anacostia. The project's groundbreaking was on November 13th, 2004. When complete, these will be the first streetcars in DC in 40+ years.

While there don't seem to be any firm dates for expansion yet, Georgia Avenue is also slated to get a streetcar (or bus or light-rail) line. Here's a map of the proposed new lines (click to enlarge):Petworth residents can and should add their voices to the design and development process. The city's DC Transit Future website has a Get Involved page for community input.

Corridor 1: Silver Spring to National Harbor. Starting at Silver Spring Metro, this transit route would run the length of Georgia Avenue and 7th Street NW/SW, turn east at M Street SW, cross the 11th Street Bridge, and continue down Martin Luther King Avenue SE and South Capitol Street/Indian Head Highway to Oxon Hill and the proposed site of National Harbor.

DC's Transit Future is relying on input from residents, business owners, and local leaders to promote the healthy development of District communities. Help us continue to identify where transit improvements are needed and how they can be best integrated into DC's transportation fabric. You can be a part of shaping DC's Transit Future by telling us what's on your mind. Get Involved and let us know how transit can best serve you and your neighborhood!

Part of the discussion centers on the choice of vehicle type: bus, streetcar, light-rail. Here's a cool example of what the city of Tampa is using for their new system:

March 27, 2005

Are you a young/new parent living in the Petworth neighborhood? Are you looking to meet other parents in the area? If so, consider helping to create the 'Petworth Parents' group. We could meet regularly at the neighborhood's newest establishment, Domku. If you are interested, please contact Charmaine via email at charmainetorma@yahoo.com. Please provide the best way to contact you and what your availability is (what date/time & how often you would like to meet).

The owner of the Town and Country Market at 823 Upshur Street (next to Domku) has informed me that he will gladly stock particular beer and wine by request.

It's a clean little store with decent (if limited) general items as well like toilet paper, canned food, etc. I've been told he has fixed up the place quite a bit in the couple of years since he took over. He seems like a good guy eager to continue upgrading and embracing the community.

If he does well, it would certainly add a lot to that strip and create nice synergy with Domku and the clothing boutique.

March 20, 2005

We will look at taking steps to seize these vehicles whenever we find them in violation or being operated in an unsafe manner. Since we cannot chase these vehicles for traffic offenses, we are also looking at other ways of taking them off the street. If anyone knows of locations where they park them, please let us know so we can start contacting owners and parents and advising them that we are going to be on the look out for these vehicles. Thank you.

[Editor's note - It's that time of year again. Aren't these vehicles, as a general rule, 'in violation' and 'operated in an unsafe manner'? And if police do track down the owners, will they only be 'advised', or will the bikes be confiscated, repeatedly if necessary?]

[Future resting place of writer Gore Vidal, Petworth's Rock Creek Cemetery, by Joseph Martin]In April, 1994, the day after he attended the funeral in Arlington Cemetery of his half-sister, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Gore Vidal visited Rock Creek Cemetery to choose a final resting place for himself and his life partner, Harold Auster.

March 19, 2005

At Saturday's UNTS [Upshur-New Hamp-Taylor-Seventh] community meeting, it was reported that major renovations of the Petworth Rec Center are about to move forward. The center, at 8th and Taylor, will have a new playground for small children (age 2-5). In addition, the current grassy hill area with the flagpole in the middle will be razed flat for better police visibility, and will be replaced with a new play area for older children. Completion is expected as early as May.

March 18, 2005

The Petworth Metro development project by Donatelli & Klein continues to move forward, with plans to break ground in 6 months at Georgia Avenue and Quincy Street NW. Interest in the condominiums and retail space has been strong, and local business Mocha Hut will open a new coffeeshop on the ground level.

You are invited to the grand opening of DOMKU BAR & CAFE, a Scandinavian and Eastern European cafe located in Washington's historic Petworth neighborhood. Please join proprietor Kera Carpenter and chef Eric Evans, along with the residents of Petworth, to celebrate our January '05 opening and sample foods of the Baltic region.

March 17, 2005

The intent of this listserv is to encourage creative, honest, and constructive dialogue around public safety and law enforcement issues in Ward 4 and MPD's Fourth District. This is for residents, local business people, and law enforcement officials.

4D-Neighbors is not an MPD website. It is my creation alone.

I am an ANC commissioner privileged to serve about 2000 residents in the Grant Circle area of Petworth. I have lived in DC for over 20 years, the past two in Petworth, before that near Dupont Circle. I am a Boston native. I initially lived in a housing project in South Boston, a notorious, tough, working-class neighborhood in Boston where about the worst thing that could happen to you is that you'd get punched in the face. How things have changed.

I have this peculiar notion that US cities can someday be as safe as many of their global counterparts, that gun violence and unsafe streets are not inevitable, that cultures and people can and do change. Boston, a city similar in size to DC, has a very low murder rate. A lot of effort by residents, law enforcement officials, educators, social workers, the clergy, politicians and neighborhood leaders brought that about. We can do it here.

I am aware that there are people in the community who do not feel comfortable contributing to a police-operated listserv. I have heard from some residents who told me they had attempted to post legitimate, constructive criticisms of law enforcement and that their postings never appeared.

I will not tolerate the use of 4D-Neighbors to attack individuals. Criticizing policy is one thing. Attacking individuals personally is not acceptable.

Constructive criticisms that contribute to a healthy dialogue about public safety issues is what I am looking for. And let's not forget praising the men and women who go to work every day and put their lives in the line of fire for all of us. How many of us would be willing to put ourselves in their shoes?

A point I would like to see you address at this evening's drug eradication meeting at MPD 4D is what specific action ABRA/DCRA is taking to go after corner stores that sell drug paraphenalia. I understand that for this to involve ABRA, the targets would have to be stores with liquor licenses.

Last month I attended a PSA 302 meeting in Columbia Heights during which an officer from MPD spoke about corner stores on Georgia Avenue that have packaged "works" to sell to drug users familiar to them, materials sometimes sold as a kit kept under the counter. An officer spoke of seeing these materials at a store when she was able to get behind the plexiglass shield at that store to make a phone call. A resident of the Kennedy Street area also wrote to me and phoned me about the same time to tell me about MPD officers acknowledging to her that there are businesses on Kennedy Street that knowingly sell materials that are used as drug paraphenalia.

I would like to know of a specific plan of action, and I am hoping that in the not-too-distant future you or someone else from ABRA, DCRA and/or MPD will be able to report back to our communities on progress being made.

March 12, 2005

NCRC and RLARC Board of Directors
March Public Board MeetingWednesday, March 16, 6:30pm
Mt. Vernon Place United Methodist Church
900 Massachusetts Avenue, NW

3910 and 3912 are next to the Wendy's on Georgia Ave. If you have concerns about how these lots are going to be developed please attend the NCRC public board meeting.

---

[from Sandy Hoffmann]

The site next to Wendy's is one of the largest that we can probably
expect to come up for redevelopment along the area of Georgia Ave in
lower Petworth. So what happens there will definitely have an impact on
the neighborhood.

In the past, NCRC has sold the property it has acquired to private developers through a process of open public bidding. My understanding is that part of that process has included public "charrettes" -- that is, public meetings at which the developers take community desires into account in developing site plans.

As I understand it, in this case, for the first time, NCRC is planning to develop the property themselves rather than put it out for public bid. A lot of concerns have been raised about whether this will mean that there won't be the standard role for community input into the site development plan.

In the past, community input has been extremely important in assuring desirable development and preventing undesirable development. For example, the DC government planned on building a DMV building at the corner of New Hampshire and Georgia. (My neighbors all thought it would be an eyesore and not do much to enhance the neighborhood). Instead, we are getting a large apartment building with commercial space by the developer who built a similar complex near the U St. Metro. My neighbors seem much happier. We got that change because a number of folks in the neighborhood worked really hard, using charrettes and other public input, to see that we didn't get the DMV building and did get a high-quality development.

March 11, 2005

March 09, 2005

I went to a neighborhood emergency management 'tabletop exercise' at Nativity Baptist recently. It was a presentation on how residents of Brightwood Park, Petworth, and Crestwood should plan for 'unexpected emergencies' that would affect public services. DC officials and staff outnumbered the neighborhood residents about 2:1.

They used a combined deep freeze/blackout as an example of something that people should be ready for. Possibility of terrorism was mentioned very briefly, but nothing really specific. They emphasized that an emergency event affecting the entire region would strain emergency responders, so residents should be able to fend for themselves for 24-36 hours. Metro rep reminded us that metro trains would not work during a power outage... so know your bus lines. DC has a nascent system of voluntary Community Emergency Response Teams, which involve free training, but it's really up to existing community organizations (ANCs, churches, etc.) to devise any sort of plan for their neighborhood.

I've gotten a lot of same info at work, so the marginal utility of 3+ hours came primarily from chatting with emergency management staff afterwards and plus a free emergency pack (first aid kit, blanket, water paks, flashlight, etc).

March 06, 2005

It's official. Petworth has been awarded a grant of three cherry trees. The planting date is 9am April 2, with a potluck luncheon to follow at Carol Herwig and George Morgan's home.

The details: Three cherry trees are to be planted at the triangle park off the south side of Grant Circle (at Upshur and Illinois). It's being done in conjunction with the National Cherry Blossom Festival, working with DC Greenworks, which will give us a tree-planting demonstration before we start digging. Planting, speeches, ceremonies, etc. should take about 3 hours.

We'll be passing out flyers to invite everybody in the area -- volunteers to help out are appreciated. We'll be sending invitations to people like Merrit Drucker, Councilmen Fenty and Mendelson, our friends at the ROC and our ANCs and all the media. We want this to be a community event, so turn out even if you have never held a shovel. Experienced tree-planters will be on hand.

March 04, 2005

[from Charles Jackson, founder of the charter school planned for the 200 blk of Upshur St]

We received the great news that we have “unconditional approval” from the DCPCSB – so we’re on track to open in August 2005.

We will break ground in April on our brand new building. The completion date is set for October 2005. The address is 209 Upshur Street, NW, Washington, DC 20011. We will have the opportunity to expand the building into neighboring lots as the school grows. From August to October we will be in a temporary location nearby our permanent home.

We are recruiting teachers for all subject areas. We are also currently seeking a part-time administrative assistant – if you know of anyone who is looking for approximately 20 hours per week, is very well organized, and is bilingual in Spanish and English tell them to contact us ASAP!

SPREAD THE WORD!!! ABC is now accepting applications for 6th graders to begin in Fall 2005. Call us 202-822-6301 or email info@abcpcs.org to get an application and more information.

Watch for announcements regarding some upcoming community meetings to introduce the school to the community and to parents and guardians of children. We will conduct a lottery, if necessary, to fill our 150 seats in early April.

Finally, we anticipate that our website will go live in a couple of weeks.

The nature of the operation is a new restaurant, jukebox music, no dancing or nudity, summer garden. Sale and service of Alcoholic Beverages Sunday 10:00am to 8:00pm and Monday through Saturday 8:00am to 8:00pm.

March 01, 2005

I heard a rumor about the Petworth farmers market that ran last year across from the metro station. They said that the people running the fruit stand were trying to drive the black farmer out of business.

Now I went to the farmers market almost every week and I have to say this is one of the dumbest rumors I ever heard. First of all, the fruit stand was just some volunteers from the area. Sure, they were mostly new white residents, but they were doing a great job (even if they usually just had only apples, grapes, and bananas). I mean, the real farmer at the market was great and a real good guy. He had nice vegetables but he didn't sell any fruit. I just don't know how such dumb rumors get started. I can only remember one or two times when the fruit stand had maybe one type of the same produce as the black farmer.

I hate to say it, but it just seems to me that some people will tear down anything good that other people do. So what if the volunteers we saw every week at the market are new residents who are not black! They were doing great things for our community. We never had a farmers market before last year. So let's stop tearing it down!

And one last thing. There's a lot of real racism that our community faces in the world. It makes the real racism seem less serious if we complain about racism when there isn't any, like this dumb rumor at the farmers market.